“Counter a question with a question, could work, but sometimes flies back in your face,” Zara’s commentary of their fight continued.
“Because you don’t have a period, or thong issues, or underwire poking at you,” Jen ticked off the things she dealt with one by one on her fingers. “You don’t carry a watermelon sized baby for nine months and then push her out of a hole much smaller than a watermelon. You don’t become a milk machine and have big round stains on your shirt when your nursing pads fail to do their job!”
“Oh, wow, busting out the big guns with female-only issues. Let’s see how our Alpha handles that one,” Zara again added her part to the fight.
“You can’t keep using those things as ammunition,” Decebel started.
“Why not?” Jen snapped. “They happen on a recurring basis, some of them like clockwork. And will continue to happen for the next thirty years. I think I can dang well use them as often as I need to. Now what made you late?”
“And she brings it full circle. Well done, Jen, well done,” Zara praised.
Jen shot her a quick grin and then turned back to her mate, her frown plastered back in place.
Decebel let out a resigned sigh.
“And here it comes, folks, the moment we’ve been waiting for—the truth,” Zara whisper-yelled.
Decebel growled at her. She wasn’t impressed. Yep, Jen liked her a lot.
Suddenly a Cheshire cat grin spread across his face. “I was late because I got my period.”
“Men don’t—” Jen started but stopped when Decebel held up his finger at her.
“You have told me many times in very creative ways that males do have atime of the month.” He made quotations with his right hand as he said the words.
“Whoa, it’s an upset. That was totally from right field, folks. What will she do now? How will Jen pull through to take the win?” Zara said dramatically. Titus giggled next to her and Jen bit her lip to keep from smiling.
Her mate had backed her into a corner and had made her eat her own words. That was not going to fly. “Since we all know” —she turned and looked at Titus— “well all of us except Thia and Timmy—”
“Mrs. Jen.” Titus shook his head. “It’s Titus. My name is Titus.”
“That’s what I said, Thia and Titus.” She rolled her eyes. “Any who, we all know that you did not in fact get the dot at the end of a sentence. So let’s just get real here. Let’s set aside our frustrations and prejudices and let’s get to the heart of the matter.”
Zara quickly chimed in when Jen paused. “What is she doing, folks? What. Is. She. Doing? I do believe our Mrs. Jen has an ace up her sleeve. Let’s watch and learn from a pro.”
“You obviously didn’t want me to be late, correct?” Jen asked but didn’t give him time to answer. “In fact, you were so concerned that I not be late that you listed exactly what I was not to spend my time doing because those were the things that often made me late.” She tapped her chin as she stared at her mate whose grip on the steering wheel was tightening. “You made this big deal about me not being late and then you were late yourself.”
“I think we got that, counselor,” Dec huffed.
Jen grinned. “And” —she held up a finger as she made her point— “being late yourself after such a fuss,youare the one disgruntled. Now, as your mate, and mother of your child” —she glanced back at the peanut gallery and winked— “I have grown to know you quite well. So well, in fact, that I know that if you were late for a legitimate reason, you would be frustrated and apologetic. You would not be acting snarky at the rest of us.”
“And look at her go,” Zara quickly threw in.
“Therefore, I deduce that your lateness could only have been caused by something illegitimate. Something so illegitimate, in fact, that you would feel much shame if the true reason for your lateness came to light. Now…I must work through the things that I know about you that might possibly cause you great shame. Granted, that’s not much to work with, because you rarely are ashamed. But alas, I will do my best. Let’s see.” Jen steepled her fingers in front of her chin and cocked up an eyebrow as she thought. “I know that there was some shame when that doghouse fell on you—I mean fell apart,” she corrected, barely holding in her laugh as his eyes narrowed.
“Things are really heating up, people, really heating up,” Zara once again continued her commentary.
“But you used about eight hundred pounds of nails on the second dog house, so I’m pretty sure you weren’t late because it fell on you again. I mean, fell over again. And then there was that time when I stepped into the bathroom and—”
“FOR THE LOVE OF PEACE, I WAS LATE BECAUSE I FELL ASLEEP!” Decebel roared.
Jen shot a fist in the air. “YES! Yes, yes, yes!”
“And the champion still reigns. Ladies and gentlemen, that is how you do it!” Zara said as Titus cheered.
Jen couldn’t stop laughing as her mate pouted in the driver’s seat.
“I’m not pouting,” he growled, picking up her thoughts through the bond.
